Ben, Rachel, Sasha, and all of the Grant Mansion aliens were looking forward to the new year.

"What'll you think the new year will be like?" asked Sparkle.

Ben picked up Sparkle and carried her on his shoulders. "Who knows? Anything can happen. Trust me, I know." He tickled the little alien's toes.

"Heeheeheehee! Uncle Ben!" Sparkle giggled.

Luckily, Feedback took Sparkle away and Four Arms grabbed Ben's arms and held them up high.

"AAAH!" Four Arms!" Ben yelped.

"I say my New Year's resolution is finding new ways to tickle torture Ben!" The big red alien started tickling Ben's armpits.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NO! NO! THAT'S THE TICKLE SPOT! DON'T!" Ben laughed. "S-SOMEONE HELP ME!"

"I'll save you, Uncle Ben!" Sparkle jumped onto Four Arms's back and tickled his sides. He laughed and released Ben. The teen hero ran as fast as he could.

"Get him!" Four Arms shouted playfully.

Ben heard the running footsteps of his friends from behind him. So he ran into one of the bedrooms and locked the door.

With his ear to the door, Ben listened and heard the footsteps go past him. He was safe, for now.

"Huh? What room is this?" Ben turned on the lights and his eyes went wide with wonder.

It was a bedroom. But it was no ordinary bedroom, everything was decorated with steampunk! Golden gears and plating were all over the walls. Victorian clocks for different time periods were hanging over a strange dome-like chamber a certain alien was tinkering on.

"Clockwork!"

The temporal alien turned around. "Ben! Welcome!" He dropped his tools and gave the boy a big metallic hug. "Happy New Year!"

"Thanks! Is this your room?! It's awesome!" Ben was amazed by all the intricate detail surrounding him.

"Yes, it feels just like home!" Clockwork patted Ben's shoulder. "Say, want to see what I've been working on?"

"Sure!"

Clockwork brought Ben over to the golden dome. "This is a time hut. Once you step inside, you'll see the past and the future!"

"Really?!" Ben's eyes lit up. "Can I give it a try?!"

"Why, certainly! Step inside and I'll punch in the coordinates!" Clockwork opened the metal door and escorted Ben inside. Once the boy was in, Clockwork closed the door and went to the control panel.

Inside, the chamber was completely dark. Then a bright orange light shines inside and in a flash, Ben was standing in the middle of a forest.

"Huh?! Where am I?!" Ben looked at his new surroundings. He heard a voice and looked over a bush.

He saw a brown haired boy leaning over a smoking crater in the ground. The edge collapsed and the boy fell down the crater.

"Wait a minute..." Ben blinked. "That's me!"

It was Ben, when he was ten years old. It was the day where he found the Omnitrix.

"A watch?" Young Ben said. "What's a watch doing in outer space?" He reached for the so called watch. But leaped up and clamped onto his wrist. "AAAAH! Get off me! Get off! GET OFF!" He struggled and tried to pull off the device, but it wouldn't come off. He ran off to get help. "GRANDPA!"

"Whoa..." Ben wanted to see more, but an orange light engulfed him and he was back inside the chamber.

Clockwork opened the door. "Well, how was it?"

"It was amazing! I saw me when I got the Omnitrix!" Ben was really excited. "Can I see my future next?"

"Coming up!"

Ben closed the door and Clockwork punched the coordinates. The orange light flashed and Ben found himself standing in the middle of Anur Transyl.

"Huh?! What am I doing here?!" Ben quickly hid in a dark alleyway before any locals spotted him.

"People of Anur Transyl!" a voice announce.

Ben peeked from his hiding place and spotted a beautiful human woman standing on a stage before the huge crowd of monstrous Anur Transyl citizens.

"As mayor of this fine planet, I am willing to make the changes you've all been wanting! Anur Transyl shall be reborn as the utopia it should be!"

The aliens howled, cheered, and groaned with happiness.

"A human?! Mayor of Anur Transyl?!" Ben gasped. "What is wrong with this picture?!"

That's when Ben noticed the humanness mayor looked very familiar. She had long brown hair and had beautiful icy blue eyes.

"SASHA?!" Ben screamed. He quickly covered his mouth and ran into the darkness before he was spotted.

An orange light flashed and Ben was back in Clockwork's room.

"What did you see, Ben?" asked Clockwork.

"The impossible! That's what I saw!" Ben replied. "There's no way that would ever happen! Clockwork! Take me to my future! I want to see what's going on there!"

"You got it."

Another flash of light later, Ben was back on another planet he's been to before.

"Is this..." Ben spotted a large, fortress-like palace adorned with a crest in the shape of a glaring squid.

"No..." The color drained from Ben's face. "It can't be..."

It was Vilgaxia, home of the Chimera Sui Generis and Vilgax, Ben's greatest enemy.

Ben turned and saw a huge line of Chimera Sui Generis holding books to their chests. It was a book signing.

"Mr. Tennyson! I can't believe you're actually standing here in front of me!" a Vilgaxian female gushed, holding the best selling book.

There, singing the books was the author, an adult Ben Tennyson!

Future Ben smiled as he signed her book. "It's a honor to be here." he said with a true smile.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Unable to watch this anymore, Ben ran away from the painful sight. He collapsed next to an old dumpster. "There's no way I would EVER set foot on Vilgax's planet! Or sign books I've written! In fact, I would NEVER even THINK about writing a book! Something's definitely wrong here!"

Ben was beyond relieved when the orange light came and he was back in the present where he belonged. "Clockwork! We've got a serious problem!"

"Let me guess, you saw a possible future you didn't like?" Clockwork guessed.

"Yeah! It was awful-" Ben paused. "Wait. Possible future?"

"Yeah, what you saw wasn't the real future. Just a future that might be."

"So it wasn't the real future?!" Ben asked.

Clockwork shook his head.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Ben breathed out. "I was really getting worried!"

"Was it that bad?"

Bne thought about it. "Well, it was more shocking than awful to be honest with you. I mean, there was no end of the world apocalypse thing like you see in movies."

"That's good. Because your choices make your future, Ben." Clockwork ruffled the boy's head. "And so far, you've been making pretty good choices."

"You really think so?" Ben sounded doubtful. "I mean, sure I've made good choices, but I've also made a lot of bad ones too..."

"That's fine. The whole point of making mistakes is learning from them. As long as you remember that, you've got nothing to worry about. Because the future is never written in stone, it's yours and yours alone."

Ben smiled and hugged his friend. "Thanks, Clockwork."

"Now, perhaps its time I showed you another invention I've been working on! Something for the present!" He rummaged through his golden trunk and took out a strange looking device.

It looked like a steampunk speed polisher people use on cars, but the end of it wasn't a budding pad, but a pad of exotic looking feathers.

Ben paled, fearing the sight of those fluffy feathers. "Is that a tickling thing?"

"Yes, Frankenstrike and I worked on it together." Clockwork chuckled. "All it needs is to be tested..."

"Gotta go!" Ben zipped right out of the room, bumping face to chest with Four Arms.

"There you are, kiddo!" Four Arms grabbed Ben and restated his arms again.

Clockwork came towards Ben with the feathery device. "Now, don't be so nervous, Ben. This is for our research, you'll be doing us a big favor!"

Four Arms lifted up Ben's shirt and Clockwork spun the feathers on Ben's stomach.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ben immediately tatted laughing once the feathers spun on his ticklish stomach. Clockwork moved it up and down Ben's defenseless torso.

"Does that tickle?" Clockwork asked teasingly.

"YES! YES! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT TICKLES A LOT! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOW STOP!" Ben pleaded.

Rachel and Sasha were watching Ben being tickled silly. They giggled while shaking their heads.

"Come on, guys." Rachel said. "That's enough tickling."

"Yeah! The ball's gonna drop soon!" said Sasha.

The aliens stopped. Ben silently thanked the girls for saving him. Rachel and Sasha hugged Ben and gave him a kiss on each cheek.

"Happy New Year, Ben!" the sister said together.

Ben blushed. "Happy New Year!" He hugged the sweet girls. They not be related to him by blood, but these girls have always been like sisters to him and Ben was like a brother to them.

Ben has made many choices in life and has seen many karmas and outcomes. Seeing possible futures, infinite outcomes can happen. Who knows what awaits in the future? Who knows what the new year brings?

Normally, thinking about the future makes one concerned, but thanks to his friends, the more Ben thought about it, the more excited he felt.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF MY FANFIC FRIENDS! WELCOME 2018!